


A Binding Transformation

by ViolentFlowers



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anger, Every Woman 2015, F/F, Pining, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolentFlowers/pseuds/ViolentFlowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She sneaks out of her tower on butterfly wings. A wisp of smoke and sage and she is gone, tumbling down through the air, dancing on the wind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Binding Transformation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



The Court Magician sneers at the guards at the door as she storms out of her audience with the King. They think that her binding makes her controllable and that's true to a point. Her heavy boots strike loudly on the stairs like the pounding of drums. The heavy wooden door to her quarters makes a resounding noise in the cold stone castle when it slams closed.

She sneaks out of her tower on butterfly wings. A wisp of smoke and sage and she is gone, tumbling down through the air, dancing on the wind. She laughs when her wings flutter and push her over the ivy, passing through sunbeams as the sun sets. She turns into a dragon fly and zips around the royal garden, out the maze of hedges, and into the rice fields.

She becomes a ermine running along the fences past spider webs, jumping over leaves and logs until she scrambles into the wall. Climbing up to the top she leaps out past the startled birds held in coups and across the walkway to the other side. As the earth rushes to meet her she catches the wind and soars out past the limits of the castle grounds and away on the wings of a hawk. Playing in the wind her wings push her higher as she flies over grasslands and farms. Passing over trees as they start to get thicker and taller, the trunks twisting and bending as she goes but she doesn't turn back. The Wild Woods ahead hold no fear for her. 

She grew up out here on the edge of magic, afraid but prideful in that fear. Oh for the foolish days that she could fear without reason until suddenly it was her that was the dangerous one and then she had no where to go but the woods.

She descends, diving into the thickest part of the Woods, shifting to the form of a fox, chasing crickets through the under brush. Until she feels the pause, that point when the Wood notices her. The wind picks up, dancing around the red of her fur and sliding around the hard leather band around her neck going cold and dark before tugging her tail. She snaps at it with sharp animal teeth and then chases the leaves it tosses in the air before bounding away. She plays for a short while before becoming a squirrel to scuttle up trees. The feel of bark between her toes as she jumps, branch to branch, becoming animal after animal, lost in the darkness dancing and laughing, playing with a force that few understand.

Like always the house comes into view all at once. One moment she’s deep in the dark parts of the forest and suddenly everything is bright and in front of her is a small clearing with a little cottage set in the middle. She approaches the clearing in the Woods on wolf feet but when she crosses out into the open land it’s in the form of a black cat.

Even late in the day the light in the cottage is still on. A bright spot in the dark pool of magic that surrounds it. The smells of comfort, food, and the sharp warmth of the woman’s magic greet her. A welcome she’s not sure she deserves. She scratches at the door and after a pause the Wild Witch of the Woods opens it looking down at her with a frown.

“I already have a cat.” The Witch says. Her brown eyes seem to dance in the candle light and her black hair is pulled and twisted up into the most amazing shapes. Like soft puffs of fire all around her head. The Court Magician knows she’s a fool, knows how much she just wants to stay here with this woman. Just as she knows that she can’t. 

She’s always been late in life. Her mother in labor for days, her growth spurt long after all the other girls, the magic curse exploding from her long after she should have been safe. She’d already seen the other girl with magic in their village dragged away. All her hopeful thoughts on her life changed at that moment and even though she ran into the Woods she knew they’d catch her. 

She refused every suitor before and there were no offers after, but here she is in love for the first time and she hates it. 

It’s not a proper love by any means but she knows she lost her chance at that as soon as the magic came to her, the binding doesn’t change that. The most she can do now is hate and want in these small moments that she carves out for herself, selfishly making time to see the Witch.

The Witch moves aside to let her in and she rubs her body against the women’s trouser covered legs purring at the smell of her. She lets the Witch pet her, a shiver shooting through her at the caress, head butts her hand to demand a scratch under her chin and trots away with a clawed swat when the Witch tries to inspect her collar. 

“Tsk, fine. Don’t let me see who you belong to, you fussy kitty.” The Witch grumbles but she makes no move to catch her as she pads off deeper into the room to jump high on a bookcase. Out of the way of curious bite-able hands as she watches the Witch work her magic, which today looks a lot like darning socks.

She shouldn’t be here. The Witch’s orange striped cat eyes her, it’s tail flicking now and then in agitation at the intrusion but the cat turns away eventually allowing the Court Magician to lay down and stretch. They met last year when the Witch was caught and thrown into the dungeon. The girl’s steely determination to practice her craft in freedom without the binding of the kingdom an affront to the Kings laws and practices. It didn’t matter how many other kingdoms welcomed magic or lived in harmony with that evil the King ruled this land and magic could not be allowed. How the Witch had drawn herself up, standing tall even as short as she was, the Court Magician couldn’t help but hate her. 

Except as the Court Magician left with the King she knew the Witch of the Wild Woods would break so easily under the royal thumb. The strength and power beaten and bound and even though the Witch wasn’t afraid yet, she would be. The Court Magician knew the King well. So she set a plan in motion, a guard that slept through their watch, a misplaced key, and the Witch was free to hide in the woods again. Protected by her magic and the knowledge of what awaited her if she was caught again. Only there was now a small thread, a little trail of bread crumbs bridging the two of them.

There was a debt to be paid, only the Court Magician never wanted it to come due.

So she came by now and then to watch over the Witch for a little while, just long enough to know that she was still safe. Then she returns to the castle and sends out more scouts on the Kings command, deep into the forest where the little Witch doesn’t live. In her own way the Court Magician keeps her hidden. Far away from the ties that bind her to the castle.

Some times she hopes that the Witch won’t be here when she comes. But she’s always here in the clearing, living with the curse in harmony. Holding magic close to her and showing through existing that a binding isn’t needed. 

The Court Magician scratches at her collar knowing that it will probably never be removed.


End file.
